The Other Shoe: Upon waking up this morning

A guy who's a lot smarter than I, a physicist researching wormholes and other cosmic anomalies, announced last week that time travel is in deed possible. But, only to the future. Funny, I would have thought it would be the other way around.

I got up this morning to the sound of my dog rolling around on the bedroom floor, loosening up her bowels. I had overslept by a few minutes, so I had to alter my routine and take her out before taking care of the chickens. I walked her, fed and watered the flock, did the same for the house birds and made coffee for Amy, before she left for work. Except for some variation in the order of my usual routine, this morning, so far, has been like any other morning. I feel about the same as I did yesterday.

I look at the day ahead and think about the stuff I have to do. I took it easy the last couple days, so things have piled up a bit. But tomorrow looks like a better day to get out the shovel and attack the heap.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the past. I figure I've made a mistake just about every place I could have made one in my life. And yet, here I am at a place, where, if I don't look back, I can say I'm pretty happy with the way things have turned out. I guess you could call me a faulty pragmatist or a deluded optimist. I haven't lived up to my so-called potential, but I never really wanted to. I've functioned like a river, flowing sluggishly through the course of least resistance without ever overflowing my banks.

They say you can't go back. I'm not sure I would, if I could.

I look at all those greedy sons-of-bitches who never feel like they have robbed us enough and know they could never understand that my backyard is my beach in the Caribbean and my back deck is my yacht. When it gets cold at night, I put another log on the fire. My satisfaction comes from knowing I don't have to strive to out-do the other guy. I live in the here-and-now, and the things the one-percenter's care about matter not to me.

Today, I have achieved the age of 69 - without them taking everything. Maybe I'll go fishing this afternoon...

 -vh